


Sign 04: He makes comfort lunches feel like dates

by TerresDeBrume



Series: Signs he's a keeper [6]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: First Date, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-10
Updated: 2013-03-10
Packaged: 2017-12-04 21:36:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/715354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerresDeBrume/pseuds/TerresDeBrume
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The thing is, Loki knows people are going to judge him for having a sex friend, just as he knows they’ll judge him for liking dresses and for not being selective regarding the gender or sex of his conquests. That doesn’t mean Fenrir has to pay for it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sign 04: He makes comfort lunches feel like dates

Their first date -though Loki won’t come to think of it as a date until a long while later- kind of creeps up on them.  
  
It’s the middle of June and they’ve been having sex for three months now, growing closer as time passed… which, honestly, Loki feels happy about. He didn’t realize how much he missed that, having someone he could relate and talk to, someone who didn’t judge, didn’t push, but knew how to be conveniently there for a bit of fun and-or taking-my-mind-off-things sex.  
It was different with Victor, mainly because he and Loki had built their deal on the basis that they were both free and unattached, and that they had more or less the same timetable… that was unsurprisingly disturbed when Angrboda died and Loki had to become a father, and then Victor moved to get away from the domesticity of it all. Ironically enough, the only fight they ever had about this was when Victor told Loki he was becoming, quote ‘boring and mundane’.  
Loki remembers shouting something about not wanting to be anabsentee father, and then it kind of went downhill from there.  
  
Tony, if anything, presents the opposite problem… Out of all of Loki’s friends, he’s the one who sees Fenrir the most aside from Ororo, rarely less than once a week. He plays with Fenrir, bonds with him, breaks vases with him… they’re peas in a pod these two, to the point where Loki once quipped he didn’t want to end up with a second kid.  
(Tony silenced him with a very intense and pleasurable rimming session, but the worry still sits at the back of Loki’s mind, nagging at him from time to time. He tries to remain rational about it, but it’s not always easy.)  
  
Still, things are going amazignly well, for once. Thor, Odin and Frigga are still in Iceland and still phoning once in a while -and yes, still trying to influence his life from where they are, but hey, it’s not like Loki lets them do it anymore. And then, on a monday, Loki text Tony because he has a longer lunch break and doesn’t feel like spending it alone. Unsurprisingly, Tony’s answer is affirmative, and almost immediate.  
  
Loki smiles, right until the moment Charles asks:

  
“Meeting with the boyfriend?”  
“You know Xavier,” Loki says as he pockets his phone back in his jeans, “Just because you finally got into Lehnsherr’s pants doesn’t mean everyone is looking to settle.”  
“Oh.” Xavier looks puzzled, blue eyes looking comically wide for a second  before he shiftsto politely contrite: “Sorry, it’s just that I thought you’d been meeting with th same man since I came in and I assumed….”  
“He’s a friend,” Loki shrugs, retrieving his wallet from his desk, “With benefits. He can see other people whenever he wants to, I don’t mind.”

  
Well, it’s not exactly true. Loki  _does_  mind a little, mostly because he’s fairly certain there’s something between Tony and his new PA, but Tony has never mentionned anything… and yes, Loki would prefer it if the cards were laid on the table. After all,  _he_  isn’t shy about his own sex life -which, granted, doesn’t include many people aside from Tony, except maybe that one week in June when Sigyn came to visit and they sort fell into bed a time or ten. Then again it’s Sigyn, and they’ve been having sex on and off since they were… what, sixteen? Fifteen? Long enough to feel comfortable doing this whenever they feel like it, at any rate.  
All this goes to say that Loki doesn’t mind Tony seeing other people, but he  _does_  feel concerned that the other man feels the need to keep them a secret. It would be quicker and easier to just talk about it.

  
“Does he know you have a kid?” Xavier asks, because it would take volontary blindness not to see the picture of himself and Fenrir Loki keeps on his desk, and Xavier is anything but discreet -no, seriously. He means well, but he’s terribly nosy.  
“He does,” Loki says. “They seem to like each other.”

  
Xavier doesn’t say anything, but the look on his face says exactly what he thinks of sex friends getting involved with the other’s children, and Loki decides to just get out before he ends up having an all-out fight in the middle of the firm, which didn’t happen since that time he and Victor came to blow with a colleague, not too long after the robbery that brought them together. lus, there are clients there, and a lawyer who gets into fistfights isn’t exactly good publicity.  
  
What does Xavier even care about this, really?  
It’s not like Loki is having sex where Fenrir can hear or see it. He nearly breaks the elevator button when he stabs it with his thumb, but he couldn’t care less. Yeah, okay, the time he spends in Tony’s company is either spend fucking or with Fenrir in the vicinity these days, except for the few movies they’ve gone to see together but, it’s not like he’s letting Fenrir suffer from that. So far, Tony has never spent the night at their place.  
Loki makes sure there’s no inappropriate content to their conversation when Fenrir is present, he keeps their lives well separated, and he’s frankly proud of himself for managing to keep Tony at the edge of his personal life, never even introducing him to his other friends. Tony is… he’s a pressure relief. When things get a bit too boring, or unnerving, or exciting, Loki knows he can count on Tony to help take the edge off, an that’s it.  
The Tony who plays with Fenrir on saturday afternoon is not the same Tony who likes it when Loki fucks him int the wall, and Loki doesn’t need anyone how to deal with his kid, thank you very much.  
  
He doesn’t even realize he’s walked straight past Tony until he feels a hand grab his shoulder and make him turn back, the fabric of his shirt clinging to his skin.

  
“Oh,” he says, and the grin on Tony’s face falls like water dripping of a window.  
“Wow. Shitty day?”

  
  
Loki has never been very good at expressing anger and frustration. He blames it mostly on his family and their tendency to either try to soothe things down or yell incoherently at each others until the loudest one wins -and since Odin always had the best lungs, well… Loki isn’t used to having the occasion of expressing it.  _That’s_  why he hits walls: because even when people are open to the idea that he is angray and want things to get better, he doesn’t know how to put it into words. There’s no wall here though, just the sun and the same crazy traffic you always find in New York, so Loki just shrugs and sort of slumps on himself.  
For a moment, Tony looks like he doesn’t really know what to do, before he wraps his arm around Loki’s waist and tugs him down the street.

  
“Come on,” he says, “I know an Italian restaurant ‘round the corner. You’ll love it.”

  
Less than twenty minutes later, they’re sitting in the patrio of a discreetly chich restaurant, with faint background music and the hushed murmur of a dozen conversation to mark the rythm of their meal. Under the table, Tony’s feet tangle with his an Loki feels the nerves seep right out of him, a reprieve he was never truly given before -not without coming first, at least.

  
“So. People being dicks?”  
“Judgmental,” Loki corrects. “They mean well, but it’s just incredibly tiring.”

  
Tony must see that Loki is trying not to look him in the eyes because he nudges Loki’s ankle and asks:

  
“Was it about me?”  
“Not really,” Loki asnwers without lifting his gaze. “More about the fact that you’re involved with Fenrir.”  
“Oh,” Tony shrugs,”Let them talk then. I’m not hurting him or anything so…”  
“No”, Loki agrees.

  
The conversation lulls to a halt when their waiter comes to take their order -Loki takes carbonara pasta while Tony decides pizza is a much better choice. Once they’re alone again, Loki takes a deep breath and decides, after all, they might as well have that conversation now.

  
“Look, there’s still one point on which they’re right.” Tony’s foot tenses against his calf. “You’re involved with my son.”  
“Loki,” Tony starts, “I know I used to drink and I’m not a perfect role model but if you think….”  
“No, you don’t get it!” Loki cuts him, “You’re  _involved_  with my son. Fenrir likes you. Better yet, he  _loves_ you. I don’t care that you used to drink, I know you’re clean now. And frankly, I don’t care about your sex life either, I mean, I’m taking part in it, aren’t I?”

 

He can feel his fingers tighten on the tablecloth, twisting it until his knuckles turn white from pressure.

 

“This is a conversation I should have had with you long ago, and I’m sorry about that. Look, I’m not going back on our arrangement. You’re still free to see whoever you want and to call it off whenever you feel like it, so long as we keep using condoms and you’re honest with me on the health front, frankly, I couldn’t care less who you do or don’t.”

 

There’s a tiny voice in the back of Loki’s mind whispering about red-headed PAs but Loki slams it down before he goes on:

 

“But Fenrir won’t even turn tree until next month. He doesn’t know what we’re doing, and even if he did he wouldn’t understand it. There’s no such thing as ‘no strings attached’ with a two years old because he will  _expect you_  to be there and to  _stay_  there. He will. And I’m sorry I didn’t say anything sooner, I should have, but Tony, whatever else you do is your business, not mine, but I don’t want my son to be hurt, okay? I don’t want him to pay for my actions.”

  
He’s not sure why Tony’s eyes shine like that.  
Like okay, this was no innocent conversation. In fact, Loki thinks this might be one of the most personal conversation they ever had -which may or may not be a good thing in the long run. But, frankly, in his opinion, there’s no need to look so emotional, really.  
Still, Tony’s smile is… raw. It looks raw, unprepared and unfiltered, and it makes Loki’s stomach flutter, his heart beat a little faster when Tony reaches accross the table and takes Loki’s hand in his.

  
“I don’t want to hurt him,” he says, face serious and voice sounding like a promise, “I love that kid. I didn’t think I could ‘cause I’m more than half a kid myself, and also I’ve had… well. There’s a reason I get why you don’t want to see your father anymore, really. But I do love the kid. And okay, I’m not making any promise regarding us ‘cause it’s not the kind of thing we have, but I promise you even if I stopped everything and left for whatever reason, I’d do everything I can to spare Fenrir the worst of it. I swear.”  
“Oh, come on,” Loki mutters, you’re not swearing at court.

  
Still, he can feel his lips spread into a grateful smile of his own, his fingers squeeze Tony’s wrist as their meals arrive, the waiter winking at them as he wishes them a good meal.

  
“And for the record,” Tony adds, “I don’t want to stop having sex with you either. You’re a great friend, Loki. I don’t want to lose that.”

  
  
(They eat with their hands still holding each other's over the table.)

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and reviews are always appreciated, both here or, if you'd like to remain anonymous, [on Tumblr](http://terresdebrumestories.tumblr.com/ask) <3


End file.
